title: The 48-base-long primordial building block of immunoglobulin light-chain variable regions is complementary to the primordial building block of heavy-chain variable regions.
abstract: The ancestral gene for immunoglobulin light-chain variable regions (Ig VLs) of the kappa as well as the lambda class apparently arose from about 12 tandem repeats of the 48-base-long primordial building block sequence TCT-TGC-GCA-GTA-AGT-CCA-CTC-CAG-GTC-ATA-TCC-AGT-CAG-GCT-GCT-GAA. Even today, amino acid residues 67 to 82 of each Ig V kappa L are still specified by a direct descendant in toto of the above-noted primordial building block, whereas amino acid residues 14 to 25 are invariably specified by its truncated copy. The Ig VL primordial building block presently identified is 100% complementary to the Ig VH (heavy-chain variable region) primordial building block previously identified. In the recognition of specific antigenic determinants by antibodies, Ig VL and Ig VH of light-chain--heavy-chain dimers have to complement each other. It is perhaps fitting that the primordial building blocks of the two are represented by the complementary strands of the same 48-base-pair-long DNA sequence.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D001666:Binding Sites, Antibody / Q000235:genetics*; D005075:Biological Evolution; D004247:DNA / Q000032:analysis*; D005796:Genes; D007143:Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains / Q000235:genetics*; D007147:Immunoglobulin Light Chains / Q000235:genetics*; D007135:Immunoglobulin Variable Region / Q000235:genetics*; D051379:Mice; D012091:Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid
chemical_list: D007143:Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains; D007147:Immunoglobulin Light Chains; D007135:Immunoglobulin Variable Region; D004247:DNA